


that's how this all began

by foxmulder_whereartthou



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Fluffy Wooluu | Wooloo, Injury, M/M, Nosebleed, Pre-Canon, SO glad that is a tag. he is a darling, Sleepovers, Sweet Hop (Pokemon), victor hits his nose on something lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:54:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28471242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxmulder_whereartthou/pseuds/foxmulder_whereartthou
Summary: A little thing about Hop and Victor as children catching Hop's much-beloved Wooloo! Also includes; Hop and Victor being stupid, Leon being immensely proud, and a really fun sleepover!
Relationships: Hop/Masaru | Victor, but it can be interpreted as just friendship too!!
Comments: 2
Kudos: 43





	that's how this all began

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hecksalmonids](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hecksalmonids/gifts).



Despite the fact that they were next-door neighbours, it took quite a bit of convincing for both of their parents to let Victor sleep over at Hop’s house for the night. 

They’d developed somewhat of a reputation for getting into trouble - sneaking down the Pokémon Center at Wedgehurst to gawk at all the travelling trainers, digging around in Leon’s room for anything they could find to do with pokémon, even running through the tall grass with nothing to protect themselves.

They had a reason to be apprehensive - neither Victor’s mother nor Hop’s parents would be surprised to find them loitering around the Slumbering Weald. The professor’s granddaughter had gone there only the week before last and she was still shaken. Eventually, they had to let up - Hop promised to make sure they didn’t get up to anything too dangerous. 

Little did they know, he was planning quite the opposite.

Hop’s mum had set up a little tent - one of Leon’s old ones - in the front garden by the pond, for the boys to have an adventure that was just close enough to home that they’d just have to shout and anyone in the house would be able to hear them. Hop’s mother kissed them goodnight and made sure they’d turned off their flashlights before going back inside for the night.

“Victor,” Hop whispered. “Hey, Vic.”

Victor rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He didn’t want to admit that he was already pretty tired from running around all day. “What?”

Flicking his flashlight back on, Hop shone the torch onto his pillowcase, where Victor could see that there was something inside it. With one hand, he gently pushed it out - and a Pokeball rolled out and landed inconspicuously between them. Victor sat up immediately.

  
“Where’d you get that?!” Victor balked, and Hop passed the flashlight between his hands excitedly, shining the light directly into his face. “Hey!”

“Sorry,” Hop said, lowering it, grinning as he continued. “I nicked this from Lee’s room. He hasn’t been home in  _ ages,  _ he won’t notice if one’s gone.”

Victor matched his smile. “So’re you saying we go catch a pokémon?”

Hop stood up, hunched over so he wouldn’t hit the top of the tent, and tucked his charizard plushie under the covers of his sleeping bag so it’d look like he was still in there.    
“Yeah! C’mon, get your flashlight, let’s go before anyone sees us.”   
  


Hop unzipped the tent slowly, as to not make too loud of a noise, and the two of them quickly scrambled out into the night, running across the grass barefoot.

Suddenly, Victor grabbed Hop’s arm.

“Where are we even going, Hop?”

Just then, Hop hoisted himself onto one of the gates to the Wooloo farms, swinging one leg over the fence and holding out a hand for Victor to do the same. “Just here, silly. Here, I’ll help you up.”

While Hop sat on the fence, Victor’s feet struggled to find ground on the planks of the fence in the dark. When Hop offered a hand again, he frowned.

“I can do it myself! Look, I-” Just as he found footing on the fence, he slipped and hit his nose directly on the top, instantly causing blood to gush down his face and onto the fence and his pajamas, and he fell back onto the grass. 

It looked like a crime scene from one of the detective dramas his mum liked, Hop thought.

“Vic! Victor, are you alright?” 

He wiped his face with the back of his hand, and Hop half expected him to start crying. Instead, Victor opened his mouth and started laughing. Hop joined in too, kneeling on the ground next to him, the pokeball still tightly clutched in his hand.

“Seriously, are you okay?”

Victor wiped his hands on the grass. “I’m fine. Let’s go get that Wooloo.”   
  


With Hop’s help, Victor managed to scramble over the fence and into the field. Wading through brambles by one of the tractors, they spotted a herd of Wooloo settling down for the night.

Both of them knew the Wooloo adored Hop. Victor insisted that there was a kind of fluffiness to him that made them take him in as one of their own, and he could often find Hop petting one while waiting for him after school.

Expecting him to run ahead, Victor was surprised when Hop hesitated, and offered him the pokeball.

“Do you want to try?”

“No, they love you,” Victor smiled, and realised he must look a sight, blood down his front and a layer of dirt on his hands and knees. “It’s your pokeball anyway. I’ll watch and learn.”   
  


Hop’s expression softened, and when he spoke, his voice was uncharacteristically quiet. “Okay.” 

He was all embarrassed and blushy, but Victor wouldn’t laugh at him for that. He’s been angry and sad and self-conscious and Hop has never laughed at him either.

Victor took his flashlight, shining it onto the dew-soaked grass so that Hop would be able to see, and the Wooloo wouldn’t get blinded. Hop holds the pokeball out in front of them, so they can recognise it, and the Wooloo baa and snuffle amongst themselves until one is pushed forwards out of the crowd. Even from behind him, Victor can tell Hop is smiling.

The Wooloo stands straight, while the others watch in a huddle. Hop takes a stance Victor’s seen him practice many, many times before, and throws the pokeball. In one shake, the Wooloo’s caught, and Hop yells across the empty field, throwing up his brother’s charizard pose.

“Yes! My first pokémon! I did it!”

All of a sudden, a window opens. 

“Hop?”

“Crap!” Hop yells, and Victor doesn’t have time to wonder where he must’ve picked up language like that because Hop’s grabbed his hand and is pulling him across the plain, scrambling back to the gate where he hit his head. “Quick!”

Hop pulls him over the fence in one smooth motion and there’s so much dirt on his feet - they probably should’ve put on their shoes before leaving.

They tumble back into the tent and Victor wrenches up the zipper, and they take a few seconds to catch their breath.

“That was definitely my ma,” Victor gasps, looking over his hands for scratches. “D’you think she saw us?”

“I hope not,” Hop replies, holding the pokeball in his hands as if it were a jewel. 

Victor flops back onto his sleeping bag. “I’m tired. Let’s go to sleep.”

For once, Hop looks just as exhausted as he is. “Mmm, okay. We’ll check on Wooloo tomorrow.”

They wake up to the sound of a scream.

“Boys?! What happened to you?”

It’s Hop’s mum, and both of them had completely forgotten about the dirt streaking their pajamas and Victor’s bloody nose before falling asleep. Victor blinks blearily, his movement stilted and awkward as he tries to sit up. Hop is already heatedly trying to explain what happened.

All of a sudden, her eyes narrow as she spots the pokeball nestled amongst Hop’s bedcovers. 

“You boys went out to try and catch a pokémon, didn’t you?”

They’re both at a loss for words, and she sighs. “Get up, get up. Come inside, Vic, so I can check your nose, and then I’m telling your mother. You’re grounded, young man.”

Hop groans but doesn’t complain, and they both sleepily drag their feet, walking inside. Victor’s mum gives him an earful too, but they suspect that their parents are secretly proud.

A few weeks later, unluckily while Victor and his mother are on a trip to Wyndon, Leon visits home for the first time in months. He’s pleasantly surprised to see a Wooloo trailing Hop, who’s come to pick him up from the station at Wedgehurst instead of Sonia’s Yamper. 

The entire time he’s home, Hop never stops talking about he valiantly made sure his friend was okay after the fence attacked him, and how quick the Wooloo was caught - except to listen to Leon’s own stories of being the champion, of course. 

Over time, the Wooloo becomes such a staple of Hop’s presence that nobody questions it anymore.  _ It couldn’t hurt a fly, that Wooloo, _ Leon thinks.

Years later, Leon is the one to watch Hop’s matches, as he faces off against other trainers in the Gym Challenge just like Leon himself did. In the Stadium at Wyndon, Leon takes the time to really analyse Hop’s lineup - until he notices a familiar Dubwool.

_ No way,  _ he thinks,  _ No way that Wooloo’s got this far. _

But Leon knows Hop, and he is absolutely sure that he could’ve. His kid brother, one of the finalists. He couldn’t be prouder - and when it comes to Hop versus Victor, his friend from home, from Postwick, a place that’s miles and miles away at this point, he knows Hop will give it his all, even if he loses.

And Hop’s eyes meet his, finding him in the crowd, and Leon wonders if this is how he must’ve felt, watching Leon in awe for all those years. Now, it’s Leon in awe, and he won’t blink, lest he miss a second of their match. 

**Author's Note:**

> a new years/late christmas gift for my friend katie!!! i hope you enjoy this and i once again have to thank you so so much for getting me into swsh and pokemon as a whole!!! here's to a happy (hoppy) new year cherished friend!!!!! <3
> 
> on another note, the title is a lyric from gotcha :))))  
> hope you enjoyed!!! thanks for reading!!!
> 
> remember: i love u all!!! ^^


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